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What’s the time where you are?https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/whats-the-time-where-you-are/
https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/whats-the-time-where-you-are/#respondMon, 12 Mar 2012 12:55:24 +0000http://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/?p=189Continue reading →]]>I don’t quite know where to start. The last two weeks have been packed full of thoughts and events!

I just returned from a weekend stay with what we thought would be a weekend stay on the farm, The farm part never really happened though. Despite reality being completely different from our expectations, it was a fantastic time. Peter, Collette and I hung out with a really sweet family who brought us around their village/ neighborhood to meet their guru and friends and to see almost all of the temples. The hospitality that we were offered was like nothing i’ve really experienced before… well, maybe the people who the localmotive bike tour met are the competitors.

Highlights of the past two weeks: I now have lots of indian dance music, I milked a water buffalo, I ate vegetables straight out of the field didn’t get sick (as of yet), I identified a loofah sponge tree and now have a loofah, I played holi ( an amazing holiday- the festival of colors!!), visited the old city and market place in Jodhpur- absolutely amazing- the india you’d imagine, and drove an auto-rickshaw!!

I would love to write more and to share more about the last two weeks, but unfortunately, I have been neglecting my journal and personal emails for too long. This will be my last post for either a long time or maybe forever, because blogging just is not for me! I cannot juggle all that I have on my plate right now and I truly miss hearing about other people and lives at home. So, please e-mail me if you want to keep in contact – I’d love nothing more than to hear from you and to continue sharing my experience with you.

Farewell for now!

]]>https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/whats-the-time-where-you-are/feed/0brunslcImageIndia, isn’t it?!https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/india-isnt-it/
https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/india-isnt-it/#respondMon, 27 Feb 2012 18:54:27 +0000http://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/?p=116Continue reading →]]>Let me start you off with the highlight of my week. We are about to board our train to return to Jaipur and my friend and I both have to go the bathroom. We board the train and head straight to the eastern toilets. I was about to go back to my seat when Audrey flings open the door laughing, yelling, and hopping on one foot with only one shoe to be seen. What happened? She took a wrong step and fell down the toilet shoot and lost her Birkenstock to the tracks! Dying laughing, a few of us spill out of the train alongside Audrey, still hopping on one foot, creating a hysterical scene for everyone on the platform. The shoe could be seen under the train, and after a minute, another citizen who was riding our train generously hopped down climbed under and retrieved her shoe.

It was too funny.

Our journey home continued with not enough beds for all 20+ of us, so a few adjustments were made with two people in on a beds and blankets on floors!

Anyways. Another week in India has passed, only a day away from one month! Last week, we started out our travels at Vendana Shiva’s farm, Navdanya (nine seeds or new seeds), which I will dedicate an entire blog post to later probably. It was interesting how many of the same sustainable agricultural practices that I have seen in the US being applied there and promoted across India. Some rough stats are : 70% of employment is in the agricultural industry and only about 10% of those farmers grow their crops organically. Navdanya’s main focus is seed saving. (they had about 600 varieties of rice seeds there!)

From there, we visited Gujjar tribal community. We had quite a frightening bus ride along a winding rocky road. I think that most of my nerves came from the fact that we had just re inflated our tire with a slow leak before embarking on this journey and that you could see the ground through the rusted out holes beneath our feet. It was a thrilling ride and we arrived at a gorgeous village surrounded by wheat fields and alongside a wide river.

We hung out with the kids for a bit and then ate a wonderful lunch and some sweet, sweet chai that they had prepared for us.

It was difficult to visit a community and to leave so soon, especially when it functions so differently than any community I have been apart of. I realized that the experience left me with an unsatisfied feeling, because I want to be traveling to get to know places, people and cultures, not just glimpse at them. In the larger picture of this abroad experience, I am sure that these smaller experiences, that I am craving more from, will merge together to create a deeper understanding of India than I am realizing now. I just need to keep reminding myself that I cannot understand, see, or know all of India at once, it’ll come slowly, day by day. Anyways, at the rate I am going, it’s pretty clear that I have already invested too much time in this region of the world for it to end after this semester. I’ve got the rest of my life to keep exploring this mystical place.

One of the most difficult parts of this experience may be balancing getting to know the many members in my group, getting to know India alongside a group of Americans, and getting to know India for myself.

A couple of days later, we traveled to Rishikesh, “The Yoga Capital of the World”. It is a pretty amazing place, mostly due to the fact the Ganges, the holy river of India passes through. We arrived in time to see the sun set and the evening hindu ceremony to take place.

In the morning, a couple of us woke up just after the sun rise to sit by the river, enjoy some breakfast, and to take a yoga class at an ashram. I’ve got to say, the brisk breeze off the water chilled the surface of my skin and reminded me of how much I miss Portland, ME.

Now, back in Jaipur, the days are a bit more consistent, which is nice. I am learning to accept that many of expectations and assumptions that I subconsciously established about India, are not always true. I am coming to terms with the fact that I don’t need to deny western culture here, but rather I must try my best to adapt to this culture. Are you ready for another analogy? (Hopefully the entire previous post about biking didn’t turn you off too much) India can be looked at as a large and colorful puzzle. When you travel here, you can’t expect to fit into the picture, because you are a piece from a different box. Over time however, as you’re jostled around in the wrong box, your edges wear down and you might appear to almost fit in. Never will you fit in perfectly, but that’s how the story goes.

Today I drank coffee, ate a salad, browsed in a bookstore (where the Governor of the state and his security guards happened to be), and had toilet paper in every bathroom I used. A week ago that would have made me uneasy, but I am starting to see that it is not necessary to deny all things that are a part of the developing India. I experienced a part of India that I didn’t expect to see here, a part that is very similar to an American lifestyle.

Farewell for now, it’s time to learn some Hindi.

Click to view slideshow.]]>https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/india-isnt-it/feed/0brunslcNot enough seats, taking up the floor!--2_26_12 028--2_26_12 076IMG_0666--2_26_12 010I didn’t get to the best part about Pushkar, did I?https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/i-didnt-get-to-the-best-part-about-pushkar-did-i/
https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/i-didnt-get-to-the-best-part-about-pushkar-did-i/#respondSun, 26 Feb 2012 08:25:49 +0000http://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/?p=82Continue reading →]]>Okay, Okay. So I left off by telling you that I got to ride a bike in India. It was pretty fantastic, we paid 10 rupees an hour to cruise around through the busy streets and get ourselves out of the city. It was worth it, but if I ever go back and have more time, I’m going to offer to clean up the bikes and get them running smoothly in return for bike time!

my bike

Outside of the city, there was a huge trench built to capture the monsoon rain, but because it’s so dry and it’s a desert area, we rode our bikes in it and along the edge of it. For a bit, we were forced to walk our bikes, because the sand was too thick to ride through.

So we decide that we are going to hike this hill/ small mountain to our left so that we can look out over the city. We park our bikes under a huge tree ( if I knew a single thing about trees, I would tell you what kind it was). It was a tree that looked worth climbing, so began to ponder this idea when we realize that it is full of monkeys. Oops! Obviously we decided not to climb it, but not before an angry mother with its baby, directly above our heads, showed its teeth, squeaked, and swatted its arm at us. In a single moment, my friend and I looked directly at one another and took off, ditching our bikes.

The hill was beautiful and getting our bikes back was a little nerve-racking, but we made it! The whole thing reminds me of a day in Nepal when my friend Alicia and I were chased by a water buffalo with a metal fence around its neck. We escaped by running into a cornfield filled with stinging nettle. Later in the day, we also witnessed a comical monkey scene that I don’t think we’ll ever forget.

Excuse my obsessiveness, but I’ve got a biking analogy to share after biking down a busy street here. It’s one of those obvious ones that could be applied to anything, here goes. So when your biking, it’s exactly like life and traveling. As you are peddling along, you are forced to focus on what you are doing. If you get distracted by the people or all that’s going on around you, you will hit a cow, child, person, or moving vehicle. You can glimpse behind you, but not for long, because you could miss what’s going on around you, furthermore, if you dwell for too long, you’re just going to eat it. Furthermore, you can try as hard as you want to plan your route or see what’s ahead, but it’s impossible and you don’t know what’s going to stand in your path. It could be ANYthinG, especially here. At some point though, you’ve got to remember that your body can’t go on forever in that way. You’ve got to get off and take a break, at which point you can soak it all in and reflect on what you’ve seen and experienced.

I am trying to say that life is a whirlwind sometimes, and the best way to move forward is to take it in strides and be in the moment. Also I hope everyone who is in a place with right climate for biking right now, is putting in some extra time for me!

]]>https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/i-didnt-get-to-the-best-part-about-pushkar-did-i/feed/0brunslc2_26_12-011under the monkey tree!Pushkar!https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/pushkar/
https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/pushkar/#commentsMon, 20 Feb 2012 16:24:28 +0000http://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/?p=79Continue reading →]]>I travelled with two friends to Pushkar for the weekend. It was a wonderful break from the routine lifestyle of Jaipur. We took the train and navigated our way to the small holy and touristy city, Pushkar. We found ourselves wondering through fields of the small neighboring village, where we watched as people farmed on desert land. The irrigation systems certainly were not conserving water as you would have imagined they would have.

As we attempted to find our way back to the city, we found ourselves on the opposite side of the famous hindu lake of Pushkar. We didn’t really know about it before we arrived. We knew there was a lake and when we asked if we would be able to swim in it, we were strictly told no and that we shouldn’t put our feet into the water. We laughed at this and still do, because no one ever clued us into how religious it was, we found that out on our own. It looked like Italy in some ways, I’ll post a picture soon. Cows and monkeys wandered in packs along the steps and the layers of pigeons took off every so often. Families of people shared these steps, standing and sitting barefoot, respecting the space.

A quick side note- I just received a piping hot, sugary, milky cup of chai… This may be a bit of why I love India.

So we wandered on and visited a well known Brahma temple and then dined in places catering to westerners. I love indian food, but I must admit, it was refreshing to see menus with other cuisines on it. By the end of the day we ate at three different rooftop restaurants, our favorite being The Laughing Buddha, where a guy cooked us the most amazing meal in one pan in a room the size of the average american closet and we were able to see the sun set.

Day two of our excursion, after a night of stargazing on top of a frighteningly tall rooftop that looked out over an alarmingly quiet city, began with a lovely breakfast at a cafe type location. We then proceeded to do the forbidden, which is what I really want to tell you about. What did we do? We rented bikes. I did take far too many photos of it before even riding it, and then upon riding it, it took all of my will power to try to stop thinking about cleaning my chain.

Okay, I will tell you more about my biking adventure in a week or so.
TIME TO TRAVEL! pics and more thoughts later!Click to view slideshow.

I have been in India for exactly two weeks now. (Happy Valentines day, by the way!)

We arrived in Delhi and stayed for a couple of days. We didn’t do much exploring around the city, but we did visit Gandhi’s cremation site and a craft market. It was neat, but with culture shock and jet lag upon us as we were shuttled around in buses and cars, I don’t feel like I even got a glimpse of what Delhi is all about.

From Delhi, we took something like a seven hour bus ride to Jaipur. Jaipur is quite a place. For the first week, I couldn’t stop thinking about Nepal. Even more than I was homesick, I was Nepal-sick! So many things are so similar, but just different enough for me to wish they were what I know. I didn’t realize until a couple of days ago that I was in denial of being in culture shock. I think that I had convinced myself that I was already accustomed to this place and this culture, but that certainly is not the truth. I do still slightly miss Nepal and something about the richness of it all, but I’m sure that I will be able to experience that here too. Maybe I just need to look a little harder. All experiences are what you make of them, no?

Anyways. There are 24 students in my group and we all go to classes (sustainable development, hindi, and field studies) at the center every day. The topics have been very interesting and it’s clear that understanding the history of India is important to understanding India today.

Today, we talked about Gandhi and I thought I’d share a couple of things that I found interesting with you. One thing that we discussed, based upon a reading, was that Gandhi still serves as one of the greatest figures in India’s society. Not only are his words still quoted, his image is embedded in the currency. India however, is non-representative of Gandhi. The corruption of government, pollution, caste system, religious disputes, etc. are great issues within the society, and they all go against what Gandhi believed. So then why does Gandhi represent India still? hmm… Slightly off topic was a comment another student made about how terrible he feels every day while walking down the street, because he is passing by people who are dying, crippled, or hungry. The pain that strikes you when you see these people is something that cannot be described, but what is worse is that each of us just continues to walk by, without stopping. It’s difficult to find the balance between empathy and ignorance, as we train ourselves not to let this bother us…I guess that this awareness is a first step. Surely, there are many people who are not as visible, not on the streets of the big cities, who are in equal states of health and are not receiving help. Society is ignoring them just the same.

It is truly amazing how vastly different the economic statuses are, and how great of a role that plays in the lives of the people. I am slowly coming to terms with how nice the my home stay house is and the amenities that I am able to come home to at night. Seeing poverty so intimately and frequently may affect a person greatly in the moment, but it is amazing how quickly those feelings are forgotten when separated from the situation for even a moment.

Although the days feel long, they are filled with lots of thoughts and adventures. I’ve posted some pictures, so hopefully you’ll enjoy the beauty that may be found in India as much as I do.Click to view slideshow.

]]>https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/namaste/feed/2brunslcPausing for a Moment in PAhttps://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/pausing-for-a-moment-in-pa/
https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/pausing-for-a-moment-in-pa/#respondTue, 20 Dec 2011 20:43:04 +0000http://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/?p=25Continue reading →]]>We stood side by side in silence, measuring and mixing the ingredients for a fresh loaf of herb foccacia. It’s a feeling that I’ve never felt before, complete relaxation, knowing that Kerstin, one of my two lovely companions from my summer adventure, was near me in the warmth of her kitchen. No words were necessary to exchange, however, no boundaries in our train of thoughts exist any longer. I am unable to decipher between the actions I take silently and the actions I take which I inform her of before taking them. Whether it is verbalized or not, it seems that there is an understanding existing between us, which allows us to function as a single unit. What is different now, compared to the summer, is that we each hold four months worth of unknown experience from one another. Furthermore, we each feel compelled to plan out our respective futures in this current moment. What does that feel like? That feels overwhelming. So we stood, baking. In the comfort of each other, silently and simply struck by the vast unknowns standing before each of us that we will be forced to face on alone.

It’s becoming more and more apparent that life is not going to provide us the time to reflect, rather we are going to have to learn how to live in the present, reflect on the past, and plan the future all at once. I suppose that this is the challenge, learning to balance it all, because there is a lot of it, a lot of everything.

Something that both brought me peace and to say the least, surprised me, was when I realized that I share memories, vivid and real memories, with two other people. You could say that all people share memories with one another, but I want to differentiate between fragments of experiences and what was this past summer. We experienced life in a new way, one that none of us had before. We learned new rules, ways of thinking, and ways of acting. Our bodies and minds were re-trained so that anything familiar became distant, and all comforts had to be reestablished. Now, looking back on biking everyday, it seems unreal. The feelings that have bonded with my perceptions of objects only faintly bring back the experience. When I ride my bike, or have a Cliff Bar, i can’t actually relate to my own memories. It doesn’t seem right or even possible that we consumed or to exerted our bodies the way we did. How do such intense feelings and emotions disappear? I don’t know, but I am glad that I am able to share this with two others. What brought me to these thoughts was when Kerstin began to describe to me a day during our trip that the clouds, currently in the sky, reminded her of. Before she even described the day, I already had a picture of the moment she was referring to, when the Illinois sky was blanketed by darkness, leaving only a sliver of bright light to be seen. It’s as if the elements, names, images, feelings, and places are printed on our minds in exactly the same way. Let’s be honest, how often is it that you share and do everything with two other people for three full months?

It doesn’t seem like there will ever be enough time to reflect together or to be in the comfort of each others thoughts, but that is how life goes. We spend our whole lives planning the next step, and our present moments worrying about the next day, without time to reflect. So, when will we reach contentment? It seems that we will only achieved it when we learn to be in touch with our present while we plan our futures.

I’ve felt what it means to be connected to people, experiences, ways of being, and places. Kerstin pointed out that these things create layers in our lives. The challenge is maintaining each layer when it is not the present. What can be done when you become overwhelmed with how many layers there are? Embrace each layer and all that makes it up, for what it is and for as long as possible, I guess.

So here goes, I am about to embark on another transition. I have left Dickinson, a place that brought me to see how interconnected my interests are as well as a touch of contentment amidst many feelings of instability. I am trying not to anticipate the return, however, it’s difficult not to. I am excited to fill the time between now and India, and grow through practices that I have drifted away from. I am tinged with fear and discomfort when I think about traveling to Asia again, but as life goes, it will happen and things will be as okay as they can be. In speaking with others about India, my unsteady feelings diminish when the vibrant smells, noise, colors, and culture fill my mind. I can’t wait to be absorbed in it all. I can’t wait to be.

]]>https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/pausing-for-a-moment-in-pa/feed/0brunslcThe Localmotive Bike Tour 2011https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/15/
https://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/15/#respondTue, 20 Dec 2011 20:25:01 +0000http://iwanttoknowwhatis.wordpress.com/?p=15Continue reading →]]>I continue to write this sentence over and over, trying to find a place to start in telling of my journey this past summer. Nothing seems quite fitting. I could tell you that it was hard. I could tell you my favorite state. I could tell you all of the stories that I remember, but the thoughts that flow from my mind, through my fingertips, and onto this screen cannot describe the reality or intensity of pedaling day after day.

The expectations that I held before the trip were vastly different than the reality that was to come. I anticipated that it would be physically enduring, discomforting, and meditative. The way I mentally prepared myself for this was by simply committing to submit my body and mind to the elements. Laugh as you will, and I will continue to share honestly with you what this adventure was like.

What did I learn about myself? I learned that mechanics make sense to me and that the way I was raised plays a huge influence on the way I think, react, and do. I learned that it was okay to let go of fears, even though I will continue to collect more. I learned that my mind will take me further than my body would like it to. I learned what it feels like to be truly exhausted, appreciative, and alive. And most importantly, I learned about trust.

Surely, it feels like a great amount of my thoughts were blown away by the wind in Wyoming, but I’d like to think that I’ve carried some of them with me. Ultimately, what I remember are the moments when I didn’t think I could continue, when I began talking to myself, when people reached out to us and surprised me with their generosity, and when I felt there was too much support and encouragement to do anything but keep pedaling in the heat of the days.

What kept me going was the rush of wind on my face and the feeling of freedom as we biked on empty roads for hours and hours. I was introduced to the weather patterns of every state and we faced them oftentimes without shelter in sight. During these times, I often felt a hint of fear spread through my body as I questioned whether or not we would make it, either to our destination for the night or through the next hour. Possible scenarios were constantly bouncing around between the backs of our minds, as people pulled over to tell us of the big storms coming towards us in Kentucky, the tornado warning zones we were biking into in Illinois, and the hail storms that would pass in a matter of 15 minutes in Montana. Despite fears and reservations induced by such warnings, the overwhelmingly powerful vehicles to our left, and the questionable skies overhead, we pedaled on.

After a while, it became a question of balance: how would we balance the intention of our trip with the effort required to continue biking every day. After two weeks into the adventure, we arrived at the first of five or so youth group camps where we would present our program. The intention was to share our knowledge and awareness of how to eat well, live sustainably, and promote community with the younger people with whom we spoke. To begin, we played an interactive game, followed by our telling of the history of American agriculture. Afterwards, we split into small discussion groups in order to gain a greater understanding of the different places and perspectives held by each person.

We weren’t only teaching, or if we were trying to, we did not succeed in just that, because we ended up learning. We came as close as we could to walking in the shoes of the kids as they described their unappealing and questionably healthy school lunches, which many of them refused to eat. In speaking with them, we saw a disconnect between the food products they chose to consume and the practices used by large industrial agricultural industries to produce those products. We wondered what we could do to bridge this obvious gap and soon realized that our greatest effort would be to promote activism. So, we encouraged them to speak up for themselves and to challenge the information and food that they are being fed. We shifted our motives from teaching about the history, to emphasizing methods by which people can live more sustainably in conjunction with the rising presence of the industrial food industry.

With environmental issues on our minds and haunting thoughts about the extensive ingredient lists on the energy bars which fueled our bodies, we continued biking. We soon came to realize that our narrative and discussion did not encompass all of the story that we intended to spread about the drastic changes that have been made in the food production process over the last half century. As we traveled through fields and fields of genetically modified crops and by horrid smelling CAFO’s we were touched by the most important piece of the story: that the story is embedded in our existence. What we had learned in the classroom and what we were trying to share with the youth stood, often times, only feet away from us.

When I returned to the lifestyle that I left, I was quite shocked. I’ve slipped away from the awareness of the interconnectedness of all people and processes that I had gained on our journey, because I am no longer forced to be aware of their presence. I cannot fit all of my belongings on my bike, I don’t know where and what exactly I possess, and I can’t tell if I like peanut butter anymore. I step into grocery stores and immediately feel anxious. I no longer need to go to the bread isle or to walk by the abundance of fruits and vegetables to only look at them longingly wishing our budget was greater. What is more is that I find that it is nearly impossible to think if I am not on my bike. The first day that I was reunited with the extension of my body better known as my bike, I felt the tension that I did not realize I was carrying sweep off from me.

Hopefully you’ve gotten a sense for what it was like, because I cannot conceive of a greater reason why to share the experience with you, unless you take my suggestion to go on a bike tour yourself. Frankly, I still cannot describe the satisfaction of traveling day after day, distances you never thought possible by bike, meeting new people, and never waking up in the same place twice. You should try it.

Thank you all for your support, we couldn’t have completed our journey without you. I cannot express my appreciation to all of you who talked me through the journey through phone calls and e-mails. I would like to dedicate this experience, one of the most challenging and rewarding that I have faced, to my family, in remembrance of Nathan Bruns.

To Katie and Kerstin, I cannot express in words how incredible you are.